Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Monday 8 January 2024

The Haxey Hood


I wrote last year about the tradition of the Haxey Hood at Epiphany. This is an annual scrummage game run since the middle ages between two villages, Haxey and Westwoodside, in the Isle of Axholme in north-west of Lincolnshire. That article can be seen at Lincolnshire - the Haxey Hood, Plough Jaggers and Hobby Horses

Such games at this time of year appear to have been not uncommon in the medieval era. Similar games from France are referred to in an article from Medievalists.net, which I linked to a few weeks back, and can be read at Seven Medieval Christmas Traditions

This year’s Haxey Hood is written about on the BBC News website at Hundreds take part in ancient hood game

It includes links to accounts from recent years of how the tradition survived the Covid lockdown.


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